Saturday, October 11, 2008

Budget Crunch

Oil closed today at $77.70. And by this I mean the Newfoundland provincial budget is totally shot. Completely. If it stays like this for any length of time, it will be back to the days of deficit in short order.

People talk about Newfoundland becoming a have-province. Even in the best scenario, it was only going to be for a few years until White Rose and Terra Nova played out. With the recent goings-on, it may well not happen at all.

Discussing have-not status is of course misleading, though. Even with oil at $130, the average Ontarian would still draw a higher income than the average Newfoundlander.